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Tuesday, 15 October 2013

So,
I was in the EC of VtES this year. Thank you, Stockholm, it was
great!

And
what great greatness it was! The people were great, the venue was
located very conveniently and the games were tight, fast and furious.
Not super fast, some of those games, but really furious, and full of
tough calls and decisions.

Tought
calls and decisions are to be expected in tournaments like the EC, of
course, and people usually would think that those players who go
through the trouble of actually getting there would be skilled
enough, or at least confident enough in their skills, that they would
be okay with making those tough decisions themselves. Not all seemed
to think that way, though.

Okay,
here we'll need to be spesific about this: when I said “not all”,
I really meant a minority. Not very many; few.

What
I'm talking about is how some players had their skills really put to
question sometimes in the EC, sometimes with good intents
(willingness to help out) and sometimes with little less so (or at
least that's how it seemed to me). It's not really a new phenomenon
in VtES, and even less so in gaming as a culture. Don't even let me
get started with online gaming such as League of Legends, a game that
is notorious for its playerbase “just trying to help newbies get
around”. What is not what they do. Newbies really do need help
sometimes, and need some counseling. The odd thing here is that we're
in an EC; it's not really that likely that we'll get many newbs in
there.

Who
were those whose gaming skills were, sometimes directly and sometimes
indirectly, put into question then?

If
anyone of you have been following some blogs or any other form of
discussion about gaming and geekery of females in a very male
oriented culture, you might not be too surprised to hear me say
“female players”. Before this starts to sound as a feminist rant
let's take it easy with the pace. I will try to write down my main
concern within as little space I can.

Girl
vampirists are players. Players confident in their skills or with a
drive to prove their worth or get better go to tournaments. Those
even more enthusiastic go to EC's. Girl players sometimes get
patronised by some people. Why would we do that?

So
there, the main topic of this blog post.

Once
again, before going into details of what can be witnessed happening,
and how that can have negative impact on the game, gaming groups and
the gaming culture as a whole, let's be really spesific about a few
important things: the VtES player community is one of the most
mature, accepting and well-behaved player bases I have met, most of
the issues rise from good intents, and problems are few and far
between.

Why
would be want to discuss this in that case? Well, the issues are
there, and the problems are realistic. It's not a really major issue,
but as I usually find myself contemplating on the community and
players more than the overall balance of clans or disciplines or
whatnot, I really think that it should be discussed, or at least
pointed out.

Okay,
so, what happens when we play with a female player?

First
of all, they are a minority. In the EC Stockholm we had a rough
estimate of little less than 10% of the players of the female gender.
When you think about it, that's really a lot. They are a minority,
sure, but a growing minority at that.

How
have many of the female players gotten into the game? Remember it's a
really male oriented culture. I wasn't too surprised to hear many of
the girls in the EC say that they got into the game through their
husbands or boyfriends. In case you're wondering, my girlfriend was
really interested in those things. I didn't wander around
interviewing people, even though it wouldn't have been that bad of an
idea though! Too bad I didn't think of writing this post until after
the EC.

We
usually get the idea that girls haven't been playing that much in the
case they've only gotten into gaming through their boyfriends.
Casual, then? Certainly. Probably not too much into the game itself?
Possibly.

More
questions. Why would they come to an EC then? Well, to travel with
their guys, have a go at it. Notice how we forgot to add “--a
competitive tournament like EC--” already? Why would we let that
slip? Is there a reason? We'll come back to that later. Let us go
through some instances of what happens mid game first.

Here
I introduce four kinds of attitudes I witnessed, some of which I
heard some girls talking about during the EC. The attitudes included
patronising, (extensive) explaining of rules and the game state to
women even when help was not asked for, playing through their phases
(for example in combat) for them, and even – in very minor cases –
depreciating their knowledge of the game state.

The
first one really includes the rest, but should stand as an
independent point in any case. It includes those ideas I already
mentioned above: the idea of a casual player, really not that much
into the game itself, and probably out of her league in the EC. I
will give an example of how attitudes two to four show.

Extensive
explaining of the rules and game state.

I
really see this quite a bit, and certainly not only with girl
gamers. It's a natural way of trying to help new players do the
right things and keep within the fow of the game. Ever heard anyone
say “and now after the untap phase you can play a master card from
your hand. If you have Pentex in hand, you might want to play it
there. Or forwards as well, in case you have combat in hand and can
defend it. He will do (a) or (b), or possibly (c) on their turn
unless you do that, but even then--”

Let's
cut it there. These things might and should be discussed once or
twice, and it's a crucial and obvious part of table talk even (and
especially) within more veteran players. After the second or third
speech of the same kind to the same player it does get a bit old
though. And most often these tips and hints are given without anyone
really asking for them, which really does say out loud that “you
don't know what you're doing, please let me tell you what to do.”

Playing
through other players' phases.

A
combat is really a prime example of this, where there are plenty of
phases with sub phases that need to be responded to even if you're
not really doing anything. It's a really good idea to ask the player
you're confronting if they want to play pres or manouvers, but
sometimes a third player from cross table involves and asks those
same questions. “You're not really playing any manouvers in that
deck, so you'll just want to skip this. Now since you have off-clan
potence you need to say if you're playing grapples. You don't? Okay,
what's your strike then?”“Acutally, I'm the acting--”“Oh,
okay, so he says first. But you get to say then!”

I saw
this attitude for a couple of times in the EC, and I as really
surprised to see players govern others like this. Of course, once
again, it's really good to go through these things with new players,
and help them out with the ropes, but even they do learn best when
not really hand-held for more than a few games. And, if the things
are happening in your cross table, it's not really your business if
they're taking some time or not to go through the correct phases.

Depreciating
someone's knowledge of the game state.

This
is actually a story I heard from a friend, which actually happened
in an EC game.This girl tried to make a deal with someone about a
crucial point in the game where they really would need to
diablerise/cross-oust/something similarily drastic to avoid all
dying to a single player. Frankly, these kinds of deals are hard to
make, and more often than not are not made at all, but the
interesting part here is that the man (as I heard it) really turned
the gal down, and refused to discuss anything.

Well, take
three turns and the game had flown exactly how the girl and
anticipated. “I told you so” wouldn't be enough, but once the
game had turned into a position where her only chance of winning
would be cross-ousting this other guy, she made a deal with her
predator to go into 3-way with some peaceful turns in between, and
at that point the insolent guy turned into pleading for his life. It
took a couple of minutes of discussion to assure the dying man that
there was nothing he could offer her, and his friend telling him to
“just shut up and die” from outside the game, before he let go,
and witnessed her predator actually keep the deal, and the game went
on.

I can't really remember if the game turned in her favor
from there on or not, but the situation was really interesting.
Obviously this was really a one-of-kind situation, and ignorant,
arrogant people are everywhere. We shouldn't doom any group because
of a single player. But it is an example we should study.

These
are attitudes I have witnessed. So, why do we find ourselves acting
through those attitudes then? Mostly because we want to help. If we,
as I explained earlier, really see a female player as a casual
player, we want to help them get by the tight, tough and powerful
tournament decks. Sometimes we think that the casual player will drag
down the game if s/he doesn't know the rules that well, and the
discourse of communication hasn't settled in yet. In those cases we
will want ot speed up the game by going through each step with the
newb to avoid those awkward silent moments of “okay, what do I say
during this step?”.

While
there is nothing wrong with this in particular, it does pose some
problems when we take into account that we are actualy playing an EC,
European Championships, where, by default, all of the gamers are, if
not veteran players, familiar with the game and its discourse. If we
would accept this as a face value, why would we need to 'help' other
players with their playing?

If
we remove the topic from the context, we can find more issues. As
with most feminist readings of topics we need to evaluate what could
in worst case scenario happen to the patronised female player.

The
problems to the female image of self are obvious.The issues are
obvious in the sense that if a person is patronized, and his or her
ability to function – in this case play the game – is
questioned, their growth within the context will be diminished. In
other words, if you accept that girls need more attention when they
play the game, you at the same time might be saying 'you can't
survive on your own'. Anyone suggested something like that for a
long time will eventually become dependant on others' help. Even
though this might sound really drastic, it could be viewed from
another angle: what if the player was left to make his or her own
mistakes, and help was offered only when asked for? What I'm aiming
at here is independency.

The
problems to the game as a hobby are the threat of female players
eventually being left in the margin, and not being able to develop
to tournament starndards.This has a lot to do with issue number
one above. Let's pick up where we left. If players are not left to
learn by themselves, with aid given when they think they need to get
better and survive (as in, when asked for), they will not learn to
think for themselves or learn the game for themselves, and
eventually will not be able to judge the state of the game, their
decks and others' decks on their own. Independency is key to
tournament play and succesful play in general, and it is a crucial
part to bluffing and deal making – parts of the game that are
beyond doubt crucial for success. If girls get more attention in
terms of help than they really ask for or even need, there is a
chance female players will eventually not reach the level where they
enjoy tournament playing, which could lead into a decline in variety
of tournament play.

Really
polarized and far-fetched dangers, agreed, and these issues do not
take into account the female player's active role in pointing out the
faults of the male player in discourse. Chances are, however, that
neither the male nor the female player really aknowledge what might
be happening at a given time, aside from a chance of general
irritation. Then again, most of the time just pointing out that “I
know how to play the game,” should suffice.

There
is another problem with the extensive aid issue as well, and it has
to do with the tournament game and time limits. We remember those
attitudes 2-4 I discussed earlier on? Let's have a look at how the
game itself will be affected by the presence of those attitudes.

The
problems to the game at hand are as follows: The game will drag on by
the lengthened table talk (2. Advices not asked for), the players
might be tricked to reveal knowledge of their decks/hands (3. Playing
the game for someone), the game state might swing in balance if the
female player's argument is not considered valid (4. Depriciating).
Finally, some players will be really annoyed by the attitudes.

Not
really stuff that anyone wants to see in their good tournament game.
Timeouts are annoying as it is. The crosstable buddy doesn't really
want to be a tool for a slip of information which might lead into
someone being ousted by accident. A: “You might want to play
your bounce now! Oh, unless you haven't got any. Or, don't answer
that...” C: “Gee, thanks.” B: “Oooh, if that's the
case... Conditioning!”

D
& E: //facepalm

So
there. A lengthy, lengthy post about something that really isn't even
that much of an issue within the VtES community, as it might be in
many other games. But, here's the thing; you don't really want to
lull yourself into thinking everything's really fine when there's no
real, agonising problems, when there is always room for improvement!

VtES
players are a really, really helpful and nice lot all around the
world, by what I saw in the EC. They really want to help everyone out
and enjoy the game to its fullest. What I'm saying is everyone might
need to think about the best ways of helping while they're at it.
Helping newbies out is really crucial, but next time you're playing
with the local girls (and especially if they're not local!) go
through what you're thinking about her play and choices in silence
and think about if it's really useful to say aloud.

All
in all, the girls I talked to about playing in the EC said that 99%
of the time the games were great and everyone real friendly, and
there were no problems whatsoever. It's just that 1% I found, and
some others found, a bit dodgy.

In
conclusion, helping's great, and it should be done. Just don't waste
anyone else's time during game with it, and it's not really helpful
to help someone who doesn't need help.

So,
did the post end up as a feminist rant? Probably, and likely the real
feminists out there will not really like the words I used or
anything. Let's use the final words to say that the girls I played
against in the EC were in many ways way better players than I am.

Bleed
well everyone! I'll try to write something about how I did later on,
and hopefully keep it a wee bit shorter.

Wednesday, 9 October 2013

At the moment I have to get back to my daily schoolings, works and worries, but I have some issues I will want to discuss in this blog. Hopefully I will have time to work on those posts a bit next week, and write some drafts and construct my arguments somewhat before that.

All in all, I didn't do really well with my decks, but there were loads of what I should learn from the games. Watching the best play and participating in games with so different views on how the game should be played is really refreshing, even though it really doesn't feel like it while you play. Mostly it's just 'why, god why...' and instense amounts of failure, but at least now I have a fairly good view on where I stand within the game's learning curve.

Thank you all who were there, and a special thanks to Petteri and Sari who took us home from Helsinki, and the very special players in Sweden! Thank god we eventually found the ventilation shaft in the sauna.

Heippa, mörököllit, and hopefully I'll see you in Germany!

Now back to school, practice and music, and more blog posts about how I did and what I learned, and about girl players and how they should be respected later.

Wednesday, 25 September 2013

Heja Sverige!

The VtES European Championships are rushing towards us. I happened to qualify last Spring, so yeah, going there, the venue being in the neighboring country afterall. But still I'm so very surprised by the fact that it's NOW! More or less. We'll be taking a ferry from Vasa to Umeå to meet with some friends next monday, and taking trains or whatever to Stockholm from there. I have to start packing soon! And even more so, building the decks for all of the tournaments!

That's for the rest of the week, though. What's even more important is obviously: Orientation in discourse! For us Finns Swedish isn't that alien. The others might find it very helpful to get familiar with some basic vocabulary and idioms most likely inclusive in a VtES orientation. Therefor, for me and the rest of Europe, I'll put up some of the phrases I will be practicing before the journey. For best effect, practice in front of a mirror, just so that you'll get the facial and vocal expressions right.

Monday, 6 August 2012

It’s been AGES since my last update, I know. I’m not going to ramble on
about that, however. I just haven’t had the time, nor too much to say for the
last… half a year, perhaps? I mean, there’s always something to say, but if a
hobby feels like more work than it’s worth, then it’s not really worth it. That
goes with writing a blog as well. The main idea was – and is – to do this for
myself, and other things have just kept me occupied enough.

That’s a shame, though, since there would’ve been loads to write about
around the Finnish National Championships we hosted in May! Let’s just say that
it was a great success, and not dwindle about the topic longer, since I’ve
something else to talk about.

I participated in the major tournament in Ropecon, and this time I wanted
to do better than my usual tournament scores. Usually all I get from three
rounds is 1,5 points or something. I know I can do better, so this time I
decided to let the shit hit the fan.

There’s something a very good friend of mine said, which might explain my
choice of a deck a bit:

“You know, I’ve always been proud of how we (that’s me and my mates, the five of us) have always had this
distinct way of doing things; how we’ve always been independent, and haven’t
gone with the flow and latest trends all the time. That’s just what we do, and
doing anything else just goes against our nature.”

I just nodded, and knew he was right. This was after the tournament, but
even before that it was pretty clear that I would not even bother with a
stealth bleed, voter or anything of sorts. It’s just way too obvious, and in my
experience way too random. I was thinking about a G2 Lasombra bleeder with
titles to help me against voters and Entombments (a deck that has done well
enough in the past), but eventually decided to go with my first love after G2
Toreador – Al’Muntaquim the Avenger.

There’s just something about True Brujah, and I wanted to show that
things can be done without stealths, bleeds and bounce as well. It’s hard as
hell, but it’s doable. After the tournament I also learned a valuable lesson:
how much I really love to maintain a level of control over the whole of the
table.

So, the deck I was playing is listed below. It’s basically a multi-rush,
which has been tooled up to work mainly against light to no combat at all.
Outside the Hourglass is nearly a broken card, and disarm deals with the rest
nicely. I don’t have to worry about combat ends anymore.

Deck
Name: \'Avenger\'
Time Management Co.Author:Description:
The Caitiff do the dirty work, and if they get too careless, they have a good
home in the freezer - and after feeding, Al\'Muntaquim can eat their hearts for
extra bleed.

What I
found out afterwards is that I was playing one Disarm too many, and I should’ve
had 12 Outsides the Hourglass. The rushes and freaks were mostly fine, and the
masters worked well enough, but I still lacked a bit of raw power. Outsides
would’ve dealt with that. What I’ll change for the future is:

-1 Disarm

-1 AK-47

-1 Ossian

+3 Outside
the Hourglass

The problem
is that I don’t own Carlton, so he was borrowed from a mate. I’ll probably need
to play Ossian in his stead until I manage to find a copy of Carlton somewhere.

I don’t
remember the players on each table by name, so sorry about that, but you’ll
know who they were once Orava posts the finalized Archon. You’ll most likely
find that on VEKN, as well as Extrala’s blog.

Table 1

Timo Rekola – AUS CEL guns

èMe – Avenger Time Management Co.

è??? – G1 Malkavian voter

èAri Lensu – Eurayle Tap&Bleed
with !Ventrues

è??? – Mind Rape Stanislava

Once Timo
sat behind me I knew that my game would be pretty tough. The only thing I was
really afraid of was another combat deck, and guns with celerity would
definitely make things difficult. I was more than fine with Malkavians being in
front of me, though, even though I was afraid that they’d start pounding me
with their KRCs.

The game
started with a Pentex (by Ari) on my Prey, and his game slowed down enormously.
Stanislava player was very concerned with Eurayle from the start, since Ari had
drawn Heidelberg at the start, and had already stolen the Malkavians for a
couple of bleeds. So, Eurayle got an insane amount of stuff on her head – Mind Rapes,
Banishments, you name it, and that made Ari less of a threat in my eyes. I was
happy ‘bout that, to be honest, since that would help me double oust pretty
quickly.

Timo kept
bleeding me for one or two each turn, and I had to take out a couple of his
minions before moving forwards. I also learned that Andre Leroux can reduce his
own bleed for two extra, so he’s basically a bleeder for two! He had to go from
the start.

Once I got
my Anarch Revolts people started going Anarch instead of voting them away. This
was exactly my plan, even though I took a couple of pool damage from them
myself. The only problem at my first oust was that I didn’t draw one rush more,
so that the Revolts took out Stanislava before I could react to that, and that
effectively gave Ari a free VP. I got myself an AK about this time, and that
forced Timo to play more carefully. He was bouncing back and forth from torpor,
but his growing lot of minions worried me a lot, and I started thinking that it
would be well possible that he’d oust me before I’d get a sweep. Thus I decided
to torporize his anarch, giving Ari another free VP, but it was a trifle to decimate
his vampires afterwards and get myself 3VP and a GW.

This game
was pretty easy for me in a way that I got basically no resistance from my left
side, but I grew so low on pool by the end (just slightly too slow ousting)
that I had to hand a couple of VPs to my grand prey. It was mighty close to a
sweep, but got no luck here.It was a
good game, none the less, and a nice start. I got more VP from a single game
than I had had in any tournament before!

Second game

??? – G3-4 Malkavian S&B

èNiina Stenberg – Nakherhotep

è??? – G4-5 Ventrue/Daughters of
Cacophony voter

èJussi Hattara – Undele and Armin Brenner

èMe – Avenger Time Management Co.

Once I saw
what was being influenced out I was pretty much as confident as I could ever be
– no combat on the table what so ever! I can’t screw this up, or I’ll have no
chance to get into the finals. And everything seemed to go nicely once the
Daughters took three Lily Preludes to Jussi before he got Armin up. This should
be my game.

I was
afraid everything would go wrong if the Malks saw what I was up to, so I tried
to play it slow and gather a decent hand. Niina was struggling, since she
played radios, and Naggy and all her tool up cost her plenty of pool. Roughly
during the fifth turn things started going slightly against my way. First Niina
agreed that it would be a good idea to play Giant’s Blood on Avenger to help me
torporize the malks, but the malk player saddened that it. I was still pretty
confident ‘cause I got Jussi to Kine me only for one or two a couple of times
(the rest went backwards) so that I wouldn’t need to rush him (and his Carlton)
and still let him cap for pool. But then my oust was delayed by a turn ‘cause
my Anarch Revolt was saddened (again by the malkavians), and even though I
tried rescued the famed vampire I had already torporized that turn, the second
rush was blocked by a wake. This gave the malkavian player a chance to bleed me
for four with a Kindred Spirits (something I had dreaded), and this diminished
my resources annoyingly.

I was still
pretty confident at this stage, and thought that now it was time to go
backwards. I played my own Carlton to contest, since Jussi was doing well
better than earlier, and equipped with an AK-47. However I was only at 1 blood,
since I didn’t draw an Outside on time as I rushed Armin, and couldn’t do
anything about his Majesty.

Next I had
to make a deal with Niina that I’d let her do whatever until she got her first
oust if she wouldn’t play Temptation of Avenger and steal my AK. On the next turn I got banishmented by Armin
(after Undele voted it back to his hand!), even though I really tried to block
the vote with Niina’s help (I had promised to see to that we two would be in
the heads up, and practically promised her two VPs for her radios), but an
unexpected Forgotten Labyrinth decimated my dreams of a GW.

At this
point I was really frustrated, since I was delayed by those couple of turns
that the malkavian player suddened those crucial masters, and that I was so
close to being saved (the radios, that rush a turn before, and even a delaying
tactics I had played just a couple of turns before to save me from a KRC!), but
what can you do! Even then I made a mistake of paying Carlton’s contest for one
or two turns instead of saving that pool for bringing Avenger back up. I could’ve
done exactly that with the help of a newly played Dreams of the Sphinx, but
just as I was about to get him up (in 1 pool), Niina contested the Dreams and
everything was hopeless again.

By this
time I had already given up hope, but tried to survive to the last. I rushed
Armin constantly with my Caitiffs, and forced him to play majesties and kept
him in a hunt loop. Eventually Niina swept his preys off the table, and I was
the last waiting for the Setites at roughly 5 minutes on the clock. Finally the
finishing blow came as Dirk was put under a Temptation, and he bled my last two
pool with an entrancement! Oh, the cruel world! It was great fun once it was
clear I couldn’t rise anymore, however, so the game wasn’t wasted at all.

A reminder
of how crucial it is to go backwards even though it might seem at a point that
it’s not that useful. If I could’ve, I would’ve decimated Undele, but at every
turn I was delayed by a very minor setback. And, ironically, the easiest table
for me was lost by a card I had feared the most: Banishment. Oh dear…

Third game

??? – Lutz and Presence Malkavians

è??? – G2 Tzimisce

èMe – Avenger Time Management Co.

è??? – Anson with guns and Tablets

èTomi Sillanpää – Black Hand Lasombra
bleeder

What to say
here... I was first off very tired, as we all were I suppose. Also, I was
playing behind of a Swede, and we all know how well they play, and how good
decks they play for that matter. Sorry I can’t remember your name, mate!Anyways, I knew already what Tomi was
playing, since we had talked about our decks in advance. Coming from the same
town does that, I suppose. Anyways, Tomi’s a wonderful player, and his skills
in deck building dwarf mine by far, so I had to be extra careful here.

The game
for me started after Stavros was brought up by my grand predator, the Tzimisce
brought a 8-cap with clan disciplines with the help of Powerbase Montreal, and
I burned said Tzimisce after he blocked my attempt to steal Montreal. I really
needed the pool, I knew, and if I could get rid of my Prey’s vampire at the
same go, I was more than happy to do that. I apologized pretty quickly
afterwards, since I knew how that would wreck his game, but I really didn’t
want to risk him playing Changeling bleeds on top of bouncing both Tomi’s, and
Lutz’s bleeds to me.

I pretty
much despaired once the first Ashurs were played, and I knew what to expect
from my Prey – Anson and guns. Oh shit, how in hell would I be able to fight
through gun combat and infinite amount of pool, combat cards and Pentexes?! An
early Anthelios didn’t help me at all, but giving up wasn’t a part of my plan.

I brought
Anson to very low pool with superfast aggression and Anarch Revolts, but once
the first Ashurs and Villeins started things slowed down a lot. My aggression
kept Anson pretty much occupied, and Tomi got to be by himself a lot, and the
rest of the table was pretty much playing under his shadow. I even tried to
rush him once (I knew I could do nothing about Anson), which agitated him to no
end, but eventually he just used a DI to my rush. I know, and I think everyone
else knows, why I rushed him, and I’m pretty sure he knows as well, but he was
pretty pissed off anyways.

We kept dueling
with Anson, and my two Rolling with the Punches’ saved me from a couple of
crucial combats, but Ashurs just kept him on medium pool all the time, and even
though his 2nd traditions grew him low on blood, he just wouldn’t
die, nor was he close at any point. Bringing out Marcellus in the later part of
game, and Villein + Giant’s Blood on him helped him a lot as well, even though
some of that blood was used to save Anson from torpor where my Outsides had put
him.

By this
time Tomi had already gotten his first oust, and the second came soon enough. I
gave Anson some room to rush and torpor Tomi’s vampires (or most of them at
least), and after surviving for about an hour and a half and three pentexings
(fucking Anthelios!), it boiled down to being just three of us, less than 10
minutes on the clock, Tomi with two VPs and me in a Pentex.

I had five
pool, Mylan, a single Caitiff and Avenger with permableed of 5, my Prey had his
smaller minions, Marcellus and Anson all tapped and on one or two blood, and
Tomi had a single vampire with some blood. I told him to make his decision
quickly – either bleed me for 5 and get Archoned, or help me rid my Pentex on
Avenger, let me rush Anson and friends and at least give him a chance. After a
minute or so, which felt like ages, he helped me with the pentex, which gave me
a chance to get my shit together, a turn for Anson to torpor Tomi’s minions and
bleed for a couple, and once again a turn for me to Fame Marcellus, torpor him
and bleed for 6. There was a minute on the clock, I believe, by the time I bled
Tomi for six after and got a GW with 3 VP.

What I
learned from this game: Play more Outsides, for f’s sake! They’re so good I
should have way more than 9. 12 should do, I think. Also, be glad that Anson
didn’t play a single Taste of Vitae. One of those would’ve ruined my game even
more that insane master tech ruined it now. I would’ve been okay with Presence
Anson, but those guns really gave me a royal headache.

I don’t
think Anthelios and Ashur Tablets were supposed to be a part of this game, to
be honest. They’re just frustrating and annoying, so they are.

I was also
very concerned about being a bleed sink in this game. I think I did well by burning
the minions on my right, but still an irresponsible turn by any of the other
players could’ve brought me to an early grave. Also, it wasn’t really an option
to start rushing both Lutz and three of Tomi’s four minions to make the game
possibly easier for me. So, this time I just had to prey, and some vampire gods
were on my side.

Eventually
I was very surprised I got the GW from the last game, and that I now stood at
7VPs and 2 GWs. Once I heard that it could well be that it might be enough for
a final seating I kinda poofed, and called my friends and was pretty much out
of it – and I was kinda crushed once I heard that the lowest that got into the
finals was 2+9, and I had 2+7! If just that second game would’ve gone my way, I
would’ve been there, or there was a fair chance – and a super star multi-rush
for that matter!

Anyways,
once I saw what kinds of decks they were playing in the finals I decided it was
good enough for me and my mates that I got so close. At least I was saved some
major ass rape they would’ve offered me in the finals. So, we had some late
dinner from the grill and enjoyed the moment that one of us had gotten so close.
And I was beaming, I can tell.

So, there,
I eventually DID follow my instincts and decided not to play some half-assed
stealth bleed. They’re just so not worth it, I’ve gathered. I can’t really play
them, I can’t feel I’m in control, I don’t really even WANT to play them, so
the best chance would be to just maim them in the ground so that I could
finally play the game MY way. That went fine, really, in the end, and I’m sure
to try this deck again in some major tournament.

Tuesday, 15 November 2011

I'm in a bleedin' hurry, and buried in work, and it's night time and I still haven't finished this one presentation. Anyways, I'll just leave this hanging and get back to it as soon as I can:

Guys discussed at the European Championships where the next Finnish Nationals should be held. And guess twice if I did or didn't get an email today advicing to start looking for a place for 40-50 players for next Spring.

A hint: the answer's closer to the former.

Feel free to imagine dozens of different jumping and hooraying smilies here.

Thursday, 20 October 2011

A couple of months back we bought a couple of booster boxes of 3rd Edition for me and my mates to share. I pulled a set of Lernean among other things, and fell in love with... him?

Let's have a wee look at... erm, Lernean.

There are plenty of different kinds of decks one could plan for... our star this week. Celerity is pretty easy as there are some Tremere packing celerity in groups three and four. Fortitude goes very well with some Sabbat Tremere, but protean was my way to go.

I mean, how could you not notice how well Lernean and Eric Kressida go together?

You can almost see them walking hand in hand in the dark, empty corridors of the local university at nightfall, moonlight filtered to the walls and bloodred carpet through satin curtains. Every night, when no one is there to see, the two MEN unite, and let themselves loose together into the dream they share every long, long, passing day.

But, eventually, my most fabulous homo-erotic Tremere fantasy was ruined when I just had to make sure if Lernean actually was a he instead of a she. We had had debates of this matter in Joensuu before, and the opinions were divided rather evenly. My most helpful collegues at VEKN were ready with an answer when I needed it the most:

"FYI: Lernean is a woman. Several years ago (back in 2007) I actually asked Jeff Holt (the artist for Lernean) that question. Just dug up that e-mail, his response was:

'Lernean is a type rarely seen in fantasy art... an unattractive woman. Harsh featured and scowling. She holds a large, glowing gemstone which she is polishing. I suspect that the smooth gem may actually be solidified blood but I don't think that was specified in the notes.'

One of the mysteries of the VTES world is now solved!"
-echiang, VEKN, 20/10/2011

So damn you, Jeff Holt, for now I have to disassemble my protean+thaumaturgy deck. What's the fun in playing Tremere if you can't make gay jokes of them while waiting for your turn?

Anyways, thank you very much, echiang, for making this clear! Seldom do we encounter such dedication that someone would actually have thought of asking an artist about these kinds of things. It was hilarious to see the right answer literally handed to us on a topic where I was absolutely sure to find only opinions and humorous debate.

Friday, 14 October 2011

I think I wrote a wee paragraph about my fears of this blog, and writing in general for that matter, getting lost in the lack of time, interest, my fears of failure or something similar. The former has gotten me this time. The latter is not that far off either, but that's a cronic dilemma I am going to face every now and then - and most likely until the end of time.

I titled this post with two different topics. The first one, "Divided Interests", has to do with my lack of time. The lack of time presently is caused by the Conservatorium. Actually, I think I should add that to my list of education I'm working with at the moment.

At the start of September I realized there was something amiss with my life. Or something like that. I couldn't exactly tell if something was missing, I was doing something wrong, or if I just needed to pursue something of my own; possibly I needed to justify the existance of my flute in the corner. I had been thinking of starting playing seriously again for the whole Summer, but it didn't occur to me before the last minute that I really, really needed to do something quick, or else I'd never be able to pick up music again for real.

So, a quick poll in Facebook resulted in my friends pretty much carrying me (mentally) to the last minute audition to get in to the Pop/Jazz department, and it seems the school was happy enough to take a flautist in. I knew it then, and I sure as hell know it well enough now, that it had nothing to do with my skills, but more with the fact that there hasn't been anyone playing anything else than guitar, bass, piano or drums in the Pop/Jazz department for years. Singers excluded, obviously. There're plenty of them.

Anyways, with me struggling with university, desperately trying to find courage to start my BA thesis, and banging my head against a musical wall with my (godamned...) flute, I was near just letting this blog go, and admitting a failure.

But sheesh, if I gave up on my hobbies, how easy would it be to take a next step and give up on my studies when it didn't go as planned with the first attempt?

Pretty easy, especially if I know myself well enough.

So, failures aside, let's move on to the topic you're actually interested in: VtES. We'll also discuss the second part of the title: Serious Newcomers.

I have been craving to get a word out some way. Let's just spill it out: the Autumn has been an utter, major success. There has been a lot of talk in, for example, VEKN about the game dying and only the most faithful of gamers continuing playing. The cards might've been forgotten in the backs of stores, gathering dust and eventually forgotten. We should ask our local distributer, Fantasiapelit, what's the situation now.

As far as I know, 10th anniversary boxes and Blood Shadowed Court vampire packs have been now sold out in Finland. There are no more !Nosferatu starer decks from Black Hand set in the stores. In addition to this, I know very well where they've all gone: to our new embraces here in Joensuu.

I could count roughly 10 new players who've started playing in here since last June. Half of them were friends or friends of friends who I recruited personally, and the rest are friends of those friends. I'm not entirely sure how large a stock of vampire cards Fantasiapelit has, but if the rate with which our embraces have been buying cards keeps up, I'm not sure how long the cards will last.

The boom hit some people a bit more seriously than others, though, and I am still very surprised by how much money some people put into the game. A fellow I've known for a long time, but who got really into the game just recently, spent roughly 100 euro to buy a tournament winning deck from eBay, just to try it out. The deck included cards like Dragonbound and Parity Shift, as well as plenty of Eyes of Argus. This other guy, whose understanding of card values has been largely affected by years of Magic the Gathering, started the game off by ordering cards from eBay to build a Ventrue voter. The value of the stack of cards sum up at 150 euro.

Cards like Monastery of Shadows sold at 40 euro, people ordering six copies of Black Metamorphosis from eBay -- just double check the value of these cards from eBay!

My tone of writing should not be misunderstood, however. I am more than glad that people have taken the hobby seriously. I just hope that these relatively few individuals will not scare off our other newcomers, who have not invested serious amounts of money into the game from the start. In my opinion a random stack of 3rd ed or Jyhad commons to boost two or three well picked starter decks will be enough for almost any player. Others, however, see things differently, and obviously have the money and commitment to invest in more powerful stuff.

As the prince of the city the obvious success has been the recruitment of many new faces, who in part have given a lot to the community by recruiting friends of their own. We also held a successful tournament with a whacking 14 player attendance. This is more than Helsinki had for their latest casual tournament. Now, the next challenge will be keeping the less active players in the circles, and making their life a bit easier. At the moment our older, more experienced players are more than happy to welcome new challenge and serious decks for a change, but to keep the city from dividing into two (or, in the worst case scenario, one group plus dozens of people who just tried it out), I'm afraid it once again falls on my shoulders to make sure gaming is interesting even for the less active parties. It is easy to get left behind, and lose interst in the game if you are beaten to a pulp or ousted in ten minutes every single time.

The atmosphere of arms race is what worries me the most, however. I was always a fan of playing with what I got, and trying to get by. It forces you to interact, and to learn the game better. Sometimes I wish I could just start anew, with two starters or something, and relearn the game. The first years were so much fun.

There is also the fact that people have started to evaluate cards by their eBay values and rarity, not exactly by how useful the card is to them in person. This creates situations where cards are being withheld just because they are valuable in the internet, even if the owner would not exactly need them for any of their decks.

The reasons for these two phenomena are clear, and not to be shunned, banned or critizised. Personally, however, I am not too happy about the turn of events and atmosphere. I am one of those people who try to get by with a bit less, rather than a bit more, and I cannot say I feel exactly at home in the current environment.

Anyways, things are definitely better than they have been in some time. I actually got to write a post. Secondly, we have plenty of new players. Thirdly, we have some serious competition in our town again. Lastly, we are now discussing if the next Finnish Championships should be hosted by us instead of the South of Finland!

And, seriously, how cool would that be?

Thanks for reading, and 'till next time! A lot is happening in here, and I just wish I could write some about everything. There is a lot to say about our decks, how the beginner decks have started to evolve, about player interaction, codes of behaviour and how to deal with people in the same group you just don't agree with all the time.

Probably next time something about jazz? I'm reading this book with these chord progressions, and --